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The Latest Bag

Here's another version of the two-hour bag I completed yesterday. This is definitely a good start to making my Christmas presents! The top photo is the skirt that the fabric came from. I removed the drawstring from the skirt and used it as the drawstring for the bag.

The Little Shop of Horrors Project: Design

I am in the planning and design phases of the "Little Shop of Horrors Project." My goal is to make the show look very "cartoony" or other worldly, with a 50's flair. I want to use bright bold colors and play with interesting shapes and fabrics with texture.

My thoughts have turned first to Audrey, of course, who will be my most compelling project. I'm thinking at least 4 outfits - two for act one, her "Suddenly Seymour" dress and her nightgown for the end. I think I have come up with a concept for the "Seymour" dress already. It will possibly be a design like this, which is modeled after a dress I saw at a thrift store today (I don't think I've drawn it right; I'll have to work on it a bit):



These are the fabrics I plan to use. I've had them for other projects, but want to use them for this one because they fit perfectly into my concept and I love the bright colors. At first I thought of using the black-with-pink-polka-dots as an overlay, but it takes away from the bright pink of the satin so it's going to be interesting to see what I want to do with it. Suggestions are welcome!

The Two Hour Bag

So after posting before I got a surge of inspiration and wanted to use some fabric scraps to make something new. I am all about using what I have on hand these days, in an effort to save money and it turns out the resources are actually great - old t-shirts, remnants from other projects, notions saved from various locations, etc.

This purse was made out of the fabric scraps from the Messenger Bag and ribbons I saved from Christmas presents. The lining is also leftover from a dress project I did a few months ago, so everything is "recycled!"

Here is the finished product, done in just under two hours! Now that I know how the pattern works, I can probably get this down to an hour and a half. Just think of how many I can get done in one weekend - Christmas will be completely taken care of!






This bag was so easy to put together, I think I'll be hammering out a bunch more over the weekend. There are so many options for combinations... I'll have to do some thinking and playing with fabrics. I have some eyelet and some pink and purple gingham that I think would make a very sweet looking bag. Then there's some leftover crepe-backed satin from a dress project that I could make a fancier purse out of, and I think the black ribbon would be very complimentary. Not to mention, there's always the option of simply making it one block color, which reduces the work involved as it's just a square with a drawstring!

Plans for the Weekend

In an attempt to get the etsy shop up and running, I will be tirelessly making a bunch of bags this weekend. I also want to get a jumpstart on my Christmas gifts, as I've already seen how tired I am going to be this year.

Looks like Fashion Club will not be starting until October, but hopefully I can get it going sooner. I want to begin next Thursday, September 11, so that my crew can get to learn basic sewing on the machines and how to follow a pattern. I can't wait to get the girls (I'm assuming only girls will join this particular club!) going on their collections, but first we have to tirelessly prepare for November's Charity Auction. Best case scenario, we have 30 girls who each make 2 bags. We sell the bags for even just $5 and we've got an awesome cash flow coming in.

Not to be greedy, as I would love to spend the money on charity, but I think we need to put some of it towards the club itself. I don't think the dues will cover all our fabric, notions AND costumes budget for the musical this year.

Preliminary "Little Shop" Planning

I've been collecting images to help me design my "Little Shop of Horrors" Costumes. I'm doing this SO prematurely, but I don't care! I get excited! Anyway, I'm researching old girl groups of the 60's to design the costumes for the doo-wop girls. They will be my favorites, I think. Though I was told we could buy a lot of the costumes, I'm sure I will be ambitious and actually make a lot of them.

Costume Review: Othello

I've decided to add a new feature, since I now just stare at costumes during various movies and productions now. To disclaim a bit, I know virtually NOTHING about historical accuracy or anything, so I'm pretty much just commenting on what I think is pretty or not, or suits the character or not.

This month, I had the pleasure of seeing a production of Othello at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Massachusetts. The performance was very good, but I found myself watching Desdemona's costumes more than the action of the play. The dresses to me were, as far as my historical outfitting knowledge goes, in a Regency/Romantic period style, with high waists and full skirts. However, I was really impressed with the fabrics - all very flowy and drapy, something I am always looking for in a dress! Even her nightgown was really pretty.

I managed to find some pictures that show most of one dress, though I don't think they do it justice.

Voila!

Despite yesterday's annoyance with the Messenger Bag pattern, I have completed it. I ended up piecing together the strap with a couple of fabric scraps that I had leftover.

These aren't the greatest pictures, but they do the trick:

Ugh!

I've hit a snafoo with the Messenger Bag. Turns out I cut the strap piece all wrong and now I don't have enough fabric left to create a new one. I will likely have to change it and make it shorter than it's supposed to be. It's the only solution I can think of, unless I use a completely different fabric, but something tells me that won't be so attrative. As it is, I've made many changes, like leaving out most of the inside pockets. I just don't really need them. The next time I make the bag I will really do absolutely everything, but for now it suits my needs so that's all that matters.

I was too annoyed at my mistake this morning and so I dropped the project for the day. Perhaps I'll pick it up tomorrow. I really think the only solution is to try the strap just a little shorter, so that it at least goes nicely on my shoulder, if it doesn't go all the way around like it's supposed to.

New Project in the Works

The school musical this year is officially "Little Shop of Horrors" so it's time to get thinking about that. It'll be interesting, because the need to make a lot of clothing won't be there, but I'll still probably make all of Audrey's items. This production doesn't need as many costumes as "Music Man" did, but it needs its fair share.

Look for updates about that probably around November, but real project stuff to happen in January when rehearsals begin.

Also, the Fashion Club is most likely a go. I need to discuss that project just to clarify 100% and then I'll update on that. I'm sure I'll have plenty to say about that relatively soon. We're planning to have a Charity Auction... in NOVEMBER!

As expected...

...I was totally beat today when I got home from work and didn't have it in me to do anything about my unfinished messenger bag. Well, it's about 8:30 now, and while I should probably go to bed in a 1/2 hour, I might just head over and figure out some bag stuff before I head to bed for the evening!

Future Project Warning!

Tomorrow I start back up at work, which means 80-90% of my life essentially belongs to work (though that's my own fault - I take on too many projects, but I love them all!) and only 10-20% belongs to me. But have no fear - I will be showing all the fabulous work on this year's musical, and I have the messenger bag to finish, which I want to do by Tuesday, AND I'm making bags for Christmas this year so that's going to be quite an undertaking, one I hope to chronicle on the blog as much as possible!

Messenger Bag Progress

I finally got more done on my Messenger Bag. My goal is to finish it by Thursday. I don't have anything to do the next two days so I think I can accomplish this. It'll be awesome to have a one-bag-for-everything when I go back to work (so technically I need to finish by Tuesday because I won't really need official work stuff until then).

Anyway, here's the shell of the bag. I've attached the back pocket and put together the "shell" of the exterior. The front pleated panel is attached as well as the tab. My next job it to work on the front flap with the pocket.

The Latest Project

Well, the summer has gotten away with me and before you know it, A Fine Notion will be featuring the talents of the Fashion Club at work and the "Anatomy of a Musical!" I can't wait to find out what the play is and begin my costuming! I want to get an early start this year so I'm not working til the last second last year, though I suspect that's probably going to be the case no matter how early I start - there will ALWAYS be something I want to improve.

Now, with that said, we are having a little tea party on Sunday - our usual tradition and this year the theme was "Go Green." We have to bring "green" gifts - not in color, but in environmental awareness. Now, instead of buying something, I took some old clothing that I didn't want anymore and made a purse! My gift is made of 100% recycled material. I can't vouch for how green the material was in the first place, but I took something that was headed for the trash and turned it into something else.

Anyway, here's the little bag I made:

Coming Soon

I am in the process of creating an Etsy shop! It will be called Pig & Pepper, an homage to Alice in Wonderland (it's the name of a chapter) and in honor of the real shop I hope to open one day - full of handmade goodies and baked goods - of course, the Etsy shop will not include the baked goods! I also recently saw that you can sell photography prints on Etsy which I would love to do!

So anyway, this is going to take a good month or two to really get off the ground, but I hope to work diligently the next couple of months to get some things done! We'll see how it goes!

A Short Break

Taking a short break from projects at the moment as I will be away for three days this week AND three days the following week, and I don't want to get too involved. Things will speed up quickly now that it's August!

Today's Project

I took a break from sewing today to work on my very large backlog of scrapbooking projects. Scrapbooking is a skill that I am learning as I go. I'm not THAT good at doing the layouts just yet, but I am improving. I should really study some sample layouts more and see what I can do based on those - I bet there are templates somewhere, too.

Anyway, today I worked on my Shakespeare Institute Scrapbook, which chronicles my time at LAST summer's Shakespeare Workshop, which tells you about how much I update my scrapbook projects.

I have A LOT of scrapbooking projects in the works, and I will take pictures of the pages I did today for the workshop scrapbook but I want the camera to stay charged up for Puerto Rico so I don't forget to pack the battery charger. I'll get the picks up soon.

The Almost Finished Dress!

Well, after some major working last night, I got the dress all finished up. Here it is, in it's 1950's glory!







This is my next possible project. I have some red dupioni silk that might just be itching to be this dress!

Halloween Costume Project

Though not for four months, I am anticipating Halloween already. I have my pattern and I'm ready to sew - now I just need to get the fabric. I have ordered it from fabric.com and can't wait to start working with it.

Here's the costume:



And here's the fabric. The purple is the overdress and the ivory embroidered is the underskirt. I can't wait to start!

Impromptu Project

Today I decided I would start an impromptu project. It's really just for fun, though I'm sure I'll find a use for it at some point. It's too small for me, but might fit Katherine, which would be fun to try!

This is the pattern I used:



Here's the fabric being cut (I love what patterns look like laid out to be cut!):



Here's a close up of the fabric, a Hawaiian print that I got a great deal on:



The dress being draped on Darla the dressform. These are the side front pieces, and you can see my little crinoline (from a Halloween costume!) sticking out beneath it:



The dress on the form - it's NOT done yet, not is it pinned to the form correctly. It will be fitted when complete:

Another New Project

Well, in my recent need to "cleanse" my entire life (myself, my apartment, etc.), I have put the sewing projects aside and have taken apart my entire apartment. There is now stuff EVERYWHERE! It's kind of overwhelming, but I think will be worth it in the end once I have everything put back in its place in a more organized fashion. The bookshelves are almost done.

However, this means no new sundress for Puerto Rico! (I still have a month and a half to get my messenger bag ready!) Oh well - I think I'm already overpacked - it's still over a week away and I've actually begun putting things into my suitcase!

Messenger Bag Fabrics

Here are the fabrics I'm using for the messenger bag. So far I've cut all the pieces (don't even get me into what a confusing odyssey THAT was!), and attached the interlining canvas to the main pieces, as well as trimmed the seam allowances. I've got a lot more to do - will probably get a good chunk of time to work on Tuesday.

The exterior pieces, with the canvas pinned or attached.
The lining, with some pattern pieces in the foreground.

Projects in the Works

Current projects:

1. A Messenger bag. Using this pattern, I hope to have a nice to bag to use for work in September!



2. A new sundress. Using this pattern, hopefully I'll have a new sundress to take with me to Puerto Rico at the end of the month!

Coming Soon...

...to this space is "A Fine Notion" - a collection of all my sewing, scrapbook and assorted projects in an effort to free up some space on the family blog (which was really intended for family news but became a crazy place for everything I do at all times!). Stay tuned!